With the ball in his hands and ten seconds left on the shot clock, Russell faked a three-pointer from the corner and pulled Grizzlies’ center Jay Huff off his feet.

The guard had beaten Huff, but instead of driving in toward the basket, Russell dribbled the ball back through his legs and pulled up for a corner 3.

Huff had time to reset and went to the block again, this time successfully deflecting the shot to a teammate. At the other end of the court, the big man finished the play by draining a 10-foot 3-pointer to put Memphis up by double digits.

Russell was removed from the game shortly afterwards and did not see the floor again.

Speaking to reporters after the game — a press conference that would end with the head coach dropping the mic and walking out — Redick expressed irritation with the team’s transition defense and overall effort.

When asked specifically about Russell’s game, the head coach said, “Sometimes he’s very good at (his level of competition and attention to detail), other times (he) just falls back into certain habits.”

Redick tried to downplay the benching, saying, “It wasn’t like a punishment — it just felt like, if we had a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take.”

Over a season-low 22 minutes of game action, Russell finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor. He converted two of nine attempts from beyond the arc.

Now in his second full season with the Lakers, and while the sample size is small, nearly all of the All-Star’s stats are down from a year ago: minutes played, shot attempts, field goal percentage, rebounds, assists, steals and points.

Talent is certainly not the problem with Russell, consistently one of the best shooters in the league.

The issue, Redick said after the Lakers lost — their fourth loss in five games — is more troubling than that.

“You have a choice every night on how you play, and it has nothing to do with making shots,” Redick said.